L.O.V.E. Furniture in East Hanover celebrates second chance design

Jan. 30, 2013

Above: The warehouse at the newly opened L.O.V.E. Furniture and Design in East Hanover holds countless second-hand treasures handpicked by Peter and Tracey Lambeseder of Harding. / Photos by Bob Karp/Staff Photographer

Peter Lambeseder plays a 1901 Bush and Lane piano he found at an estate sale. / Photos by Bob Karp/Staff photographer

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Peter Lambeseder really cares about furniture. His business — L.O.V.E. Furniture and Design — is testament to that, and the truth in the saying that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Inside an unassuming building in an East Hanover industrial park is a warm showroom displaying the furniture Lambeseder has rescued over the years.

“I’ve driven by one too many garbage piles,” said Lambeseder, who is 43. “I don’t like to see anything go to the curb so I’m trying my darnedest to make it new or usable in a different way.”

L.O.V.E. stands for Limited Original Vintage Eclectic — and each of the 400 pieces for sale in the 1,500-square-foot studio reflect the eclectic tastes of Peter and Tracey Lambeseder of New Vernon. Their aesthetic is a happy mix of modern, industrial, organic and a bit of whimsy.

Browse the three-room studio and its expansive warehouse, where chairs are tacked to the wall up to the ceiling, and you’ll find everything from $20 candlesticks to $175 flower prints from 1850 and a $100 teal leather couch to a $500 signed Grete Jalk chair. With thoughtful staging and a scented candle burning, it does not feel like other second-hand furniture stores. It feels more like home.

Some of the pieces are from estate sales, others are roadside finds, Lambeseder said.

“Most important, it’s furniture that is constructed well,” Lambeseder said. “And we’re taking things apart. If the table doesn’t warrant repurposing, we’ll take the legs and use them for another piece. If the top is good, we’ll use that. What’s in common is that it’s stuff that’s cool, stuff that’s fun to look at.”

And then there is Lambeseder’s original furniture, crafted using recycled pieces like a doctor’s exam table, gym workbench, CD towers, industrial chairs and a bamboo-frame couch, all artfully upholstered with intricate hand-woven Persian rugs. The L.O.V.E. original pieces cost between $125 to $300.

L.O.V.E. Furniture, incredibly, opened just two weeks ago but it is a lifetime in the making. Peter runs Lambeseder Landscaping and Tracey, 42, is a former food scientist at Kraft. The couple married 23 years ago after meeting in the eighth grade at a Morristown-Beard Christmas Cotillion.

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The Lambeseders say they have always scouted sidewalks for tables and toys for their son Tanner, who is now 21.

“We’d drive around with hot chocolate and our son and look for stuff — sleds, toys — having too much fun,” Peter Lambeseder said. “We did it just to get by, but if only we knew then what we know now.”

It wasn’t until after Tracey Lambeseder was laid off from her job that the couple decided to start L.O.V.E. For Peter, it was the chance to realize his avocation. But for Tracey, she admits, it was a risk.

“I didn’t think we could make money,” she said.

Since Sept. 1, Peter Lambeseder officially set out collecting items with the intention they would be sold. In November, L.O.V.E Furniture hosted a two-day sale at a friend’s Madison house.

“That’s when I realized we could do it,” Tracey Lambeseder said. “We got such great feedback about our stuff, from college students to old ladies. They said we offered ‘one of a kind pieces.’”

Anthony DeMaio found his way to L.O.V.E. Furniture and Design recently and purchased several pieces for his company, Butter Tree Studios, a film production studio in Hanover.

“We recently renovated the building and I was searching for odd things, pieces that are not generic,” DeMaio said. “We picked up hand-painted chairs, these hard-to-describe plexiglass stools and a vintage loveseat, among other things, to furnish our office to make clients feel at home and also to use as props for sets.”

Since the Lambeseders decided to make their dream a reality, they say they have been blessed by karma. On the way home from the Madison sale in November, Peter Lambeseder said a Danish modern chair fell off the back of his truck, crashing into pieces.

“All we could salvage was the cushion, but we did,” he said. “On the way home we passed a pile of garbage at a home and found an antique chair. The cushion fit perfectly. That just does not happen.”

You might not guess Peter Lambeseder’s refined tastes just by looking at him. He has a goatee and wears his wavy brown hair tucked into a loose ponytail. In a grey grandpa sweater buttoned over a maroon flannel shirt, he looks more like a rocker than a designer.

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But he gets giddy when speaking about the furniture in the shop and relishes the chance to share the stories behind the pieces he’s curated.

“That’s what it’s all about — taking things that would be in a dump and giving them the chance to have a whole other story and life,” said Peter Lambeseder, who does, in fact, play piano in a band.

Looking at a 1910 antique table, he pulls out a drawer to show off its craftsmanship.

“It’s just constructed so well, it’s got all the joints, no nails,” he said. “I can almost see the man who built it saying, ‘Thank you.’ It took someone like a week to make this piece and it’s obvious they cared about what they were doing.”

Tracey Lambeseder, too, is finding her life’s passion with the venture and now says getting laid off was a “blessing in disguise.” Her handiwork can be seen in the showroom — after taking an art class on the use of Annie Sloan chalk paint, she’s tried it out on some pieces to add a distressed finish.

The Lambeseders are looking for a more permanent location for their growing business, the couple said. Until then, they hope to host pop-up sales in under-utilized buildings.

“Get a band to play as people hang out, shop,” Peter Lambeseder said, “make it fun.”

For now, they’re happy in their East Hanover location and have decided to share their good karma by giving back a portion of their proceeds each month to local non-profits and causes, like a program through the School of Rock which provides musical instruments to kids in need, Tracey Lambeseder said.

For the Lambeseders, great design is about avoiding mass-produced furniture and finding pieces that speak to you, no matter the price point.

“See what catches your eye and try to put things together that might not necessarily go together,” Tracey Lambeseder said. “If it is something you really love, you’ll make it work. Just put a little love in it.”